Collecting Dracula: 1931 Movie Posters

The Film that Launched the Universal Monsters

Film posters were designed to have short life spans. They were simply intended to promote upcoming and new releases while a film was in the theater. When the film left the theater, the posters were thrown away. Since scarcity and desirability are primary drivers of value, film posters of classic movies are now extremely valuable – particularly for a film as iconic as Universal’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi.

The iconic nature of Todd Browning’s Dracula and the enduring legacy of Bela Lugosi’s performance make posters for this film some of the most coveted – and expensive – of all classic film posters. Unfortunately, only a few posters are known to exist today from the wide range of designs that originally existed.

Below, we’ve included artwork from the original 1931 Universal press book to give you a look at the original designs that are not known to exist any longer.

One Sheet Film Posters

Dracula 1931 One Sheet Style A

This poster became the most valuable film poster ever sold when it was auctioned for $525,800 on November 17, 2017 by Heritage Auctions. Read the details here.

Dracula 1931 One Sheet Poster Style F

We previously published in-depth article on the Style F One Sheet in our Classic Movie Posters series. You can read it here:

Dracula 1931 Window Cards:

Dracula 1931 Herald:

Dracula 1931 Jumbo Lobby Cards:

Many of these incredible pieces of ephemera are, unfortunately, lost to history. And all of them are beyond he reach of most collectors. Regardless, we have the film and, through this digital gallery, we can all relish the awesome pop culture art of these iconic posters.